NW Spring Meeting May 14 2011
We were half the usual number for our Spring Meeting, but what a wonderful time it was. We met at St George with coffee and breakfast treats and then went to the Sanctuary. Fr Hugh Bromiley led the services and Canon Bill Squire provided the homily. He spoke of the Children's Medical Mission of Haiti in Port-au-Prince, St Vincent's Center for Handicapped Children. We directed our offering to that mission.
The Rev Danielle Morris, Assistan Rector of St Michael's in Orlando, was out speaker. She inspired us with "All About Eve." We saw Eve in a new light, often overlooked in the church. We will not soon forget "Sssssoul sssissster" and the "ssssnake." She was another one of the thought provoking women of our church and we were very glad to hear her message.
St George provided us with a delicious box lunch provided by Panera bread, many of took home leftovers for later (wonder if they made the trip or were eaten on the way!)
We were reminded by Trish Ignao, Central Florida Deanery ECW Treasurer, of all the women's groups falling under the auspicesof ECW and to remind us to send all dues and monies to Earl Pickett at the Diocese. Clearly mark the check for the group it is for. We also learned of a another fund with money in it for our North West Deanery which was a surprise. Trish does not receive any money but gets reports from Earl on what has come in.
We shared the many projects of our churches. We learned of St Anne's (Crystal River) making ditty bags to add to their food pantry and the little dresses they are making from pillow cases for the childrenof Appalachia (and shorts for boys!) Holy Faith (Dunellon) has an interesting backpack project where packs are filled with juices and snacks to last a weekend to go home with children on the free lunch program so they have something to eat over the weekend. The children checkout the backpack and return in on Monday. They are also working on a sneaker project.St George showed off the aprons, the long and short of it, (you had to be there to understand---Lavern, very tall, and Marilyn, very short) by modeling the aprons with the Episcopal shield (which is a pocket!) as one size fits everyone. They are selling them for $10. They are made from a durable heavy fabric and orders can be called in to St George.
We learned the women of the Episcopal Church as busy caring for God's people and sharing the love of Christ.
Our Diocese Annual Meeting is set for October 22 2011 at the Cathedral in Orlando. Hopefully this date works better than the November date we had be using which always seemed in conflict with so many church activities. So, mark your calendar for October 22.
The Spring Meeting for 2012 will be at Holy Faith in Dunellon. I was thrilled to have this hosting done three months prior to the 2011 meeting! It must be a first when the next host was not requested. Put on your hosting caps, and think of 2013! But, you do have some time to consider it. Thank you Holy Faith!
We discussed getting all the prayer shawl ministries together, perhaps during the summer, to share and fellowship.
Thank you St George and the ladies who helped you for a wonderful meeting. We all got back home before the rain and storms!